Centennial Summer

102 minutes

Pleasant, folksy musical comedy (1946), drawing on the tradition of State Fair and Meet Me in St. Louis with its story of a family transformed by the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876. Otto Preminger directed; needless to say, it isn't one of his more personal projects, though his hand is evident in the careful, fluid narration. With Jeanne Crain, Cornel Wilde, Linda Darnell, Constance Bennett, Dorothy Gish, and Walter Brennan; the songs were contributed by Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein, and E.Y. Harburg.
ByDave Kehr